Nutri-Math

While making snacks for my hungry boys after school today, I realized that a “good mom of the year teaching moment” had presented itself. How often does that happen? I was ready to pounce.

Today’s topic was math. My big boy recognized 1’s and 10’s and 100’s places on his worksheet. But he was terribly confused by the supplemental numbers: 1/10, 1/100 and the ever impossible to read 1/1000. At this exact moment of questioning, I was making a grilled turkey and cheese on whole wheat. “One second” – I said to both my future mathematician and his younger (and hungrier) brother.

To the table we went. I used a pizza cutter to slice the grilled turkey and cheese (on whole wheat) in half. We talked about halves and how 2 halves will always make 1 whole. My boys’ eyes were wide open. This was getting fun. We were doing Nutri-Math. We carefully took turns making slices, watching the cheese ooze out, announcing the change in fractions from 1/2 to 1/4, 1/6, and 1/8. As expected, any further cuts would have mutilated our nice warm sandwich, so we stopped there. Point was made. Then we grabbed a fresh red apple and began the process again. In a very short amount of time, the lesson was over and the food was gone. And not a single word was uttered about eating.

Today represented a very fun, productive, and calm snack time. It is amazing to experience the change when snack time moves away from “eat this… now!” to “look at this… wow!” Good and clean fun when kids can help prepare (and in this case, cut) the food. It is a gift to be able to incorporate the joys of learning with the importance of healthy eating. And naturally, it is rewarding when good food is gobbled up, with ZERO complaints.